Greek:Hoidenunouranoikaiegetoautologotethesaurismenoi (RPPMSN) eisin (3PPAI) puri,teroumenoi (PPPMPN) eishemerankriseoskaiapoleiastonasebonanthroponAmplified:
But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up
(reserved) for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and
destruction of the ungodly people. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)Barclay:
But by the same word the present heavens and earth are treasured up
for fire, reserved for the day of judgment and the destruction of
impious men. (Westminster
Press)KJV: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same
word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men.NET:
But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved
for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the
ungodly. (NET
Bible)NLT:
And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be
consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will
perish. (NLT
- Tyndale House)Phillips: but
the present heavens and earth are, also by God's command, being kept
and maintained for the fire of the day of judgment and the destruction
of wicked men. (Phillips:
Touchstone)Wuest:
But the present heavens and the earth by the same word have been
stored with fire, being kept so guarded with a view to the day of
judgment and misery of men destitute of reverential awe towards God. (Eerdmans) Young'sLiteral: and the present
heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being
kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men.

Remember that
Peter is addressing the mockers who say that things will never change.
He has presented the historical truths they willfully ignore that by
the Word of God two great past cataclysmic events have occurred -- the
Creation of the heavens and the earth and the destruction of the world
by the Genesis flood.

But
(1161) (de) contrasts the flood judgment with the fire judgment (see discussion on
importance of
terms
of contrast in the observation phase of Inductive Bible
Study)
The fact that one cataclysmic judgment has taken place in history is
clear indication that God can intervene again with fire if He so
chooses. It is interesting that although other passages allude to the
fiery demise of planet earth, 2 Peter provides the only specific
NT description of this future event (2Pe 3:7; 10; 12-see notes 2Pe 3:7;
10;
12).

Robertson says
Paul contrasts the "now heavens" over against the "then world' of verse
6.

The
present (3568)(nun = now) heavens
(3772)
and (1093)
earth"
points to the present cosmic system as we know it today and which has
existed since the Genesis flood. Prior to the flood, the cosmos was
different, as testified by the long life span (~900 years) of pre-flood
man compared to post-flood man (~70 years).

By His Word (3056)
-- God made the earth and "by
His Word" he
sustains the heavens and earth we now live in until He determines it is
time to intervene with fire the final cataclysmic event. Here Peter says
the Word which created, now keeps the heavens and earth stored up for
this fire. Clearly Peter wants his readers to understand that the world
and all that is within it from beginning to end is dependent upon the
omnipotent Word of God. Jesus presented a similar prophecy when He said

This prophetic word is
sure
(2Pe 1:19-note)
so we can be sure that this prophesied fiery destruction
will come, but not until God say's "Let it come."

The writer of
Hebrews says Jesus holds all things together by the Word
of His power.
(Heb 1:3-note, cf
Col 1:17-note)

Do you really believe that God's Word is this certain,
this powerful and
this effective?
Do you show it by treasuring it in your heart
so that
you may not sin against Him
(Ps 119:9,11)?

There is no fear of judgment for the one who judges himself or herself
according to the Word of God.

Being reserved (2343)
(theaurizo
[word study]from thesaurós =
treasure, deposit = place where something is kept = treasure box, chest,
storehouse, storeroom. English = thesaurus, a treasury of words) means
to lay away, to to amass or reserve, to store up or treasure up goods
for future use. It can mean to hoard. The idea is to lay up or store up
something to keep it safe. Most of the uses in Scripture are literal
storing up but there are some uses that are figurative such as storing
up of wrath (Romans 2:5-note)

The root word
thesauros in secular Greek means: a treasure chamber, a storage
room, granary, strong-box or a treasure per se. Even at a very early
period temples were built with treasure chambers, where gifts and taxes
in kind and money could be stored. The practice appears to have spread
from Egypt to Greece. Collecting boxes were also known (cf. 2Ki 12:10).

NIDNTT writes that the root word

thesauros is found from Hesiod
onwards. Its etymology is uncertain, and it is probably a technical
loan-word. It means:

(a) a treasure chamber, a storage
room, granary, strong-box;

(b) treasure. Even at a very early
period temples were built with treasure chambers, where gifts and taxes
in kind and money could be stored. The practice appears to have spread
from Egypt to Greece. Collecting boxes were also known (cf. 2 Ki 12:10).

Thesaurizo is used similarly
in the sense of storing uptreasure, or putting it in safe
keeping.

Mandaean Gnostic literature made use
of the concepts of the treasure-house and the treasure of
life and light from which the soul takes its rise, and to which it may
return after it has experienced salvation (cf. W. Foerster, Gnosis: A
Selection of Gnostic Texts)...

In later Judaism good works, e.g.
alms giving, are a treasure which is stored up as a reward in the
world to come, while the interest is enjoyed in this world as well (cf.
Tob. 4:8ff.; 2 Esd. 6:5ff.; 7:77; Tosefta Peah 4:18; SB I 430). “All
that Israel lays up in the form of fulfilments of the Law and good
works, it lays up for its Father in heaven” (Deut. R. 1 on Deut. 1:1;
cf. F. Hauck, TDNT III 137; SB I 431).

The verb thesaurizo
is used similarly in the sense of storing up treasure or putting it in
safe keeping.

John
MacArthur adds that...

The Greek also carries the
connotation of stacking or laying out horizontally, as one stacks coins.
In the context of this passage the idea is that of stockpiling or
hoarding, and therefore pictures wealth that is not being used. The
money or other wealth is simply stored for safekeeping; it is kept for
the keeping’s sake to make a show of wealth or to create an environment
of lazy overindulgence (﻿cf.﻿ ﻿Luke 12:16-21﻿).
(MacArthur, J: Matthew 1-7 Macarthur New Testament Commentary
Chicago: Moody Press)

God is holding the earth
"by His Word" on a divine "layaway plan" so to speak.

The perfect tense speaks of the
duration or permanence of this divine "reservation".
It is as if this "reservation" was made at some point in time in the
past and is still "reserved", under girding the truth that it will come
to pass in God's perfect timing regardless of how much unbelievers scoff
at its delay.

Paul uses thesaurizo in (Ro 2:5)
to describe men "storing up wrath" for themselves.
Peter says that God is storing up the world for revelation of His
righteous wrath. Peter explains "reserved
for fire" in
the following passages (v10-13)
(remember that the golden rule of accurate interpretation is
context rules).

There
are 8 uses of thesaurizo in the NT...

Matthew 6:19 (see note)"Do not lay up (present
imperative + a
negative = command to stop action already in process)
for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
where thieves break in and steal. (The saying is
true...You can't take it with you!)

Matthew 6:20 (note)
"But lay up
(present
imperative =
make this the habit of your life! Don't be stingy!)
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal

Luke 12:21 So is the man who
lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Romans 2:5 (note)
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are
storingup wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Comment: The one who
remains unrepentant is steadily storing up wrath. There is an
interesting ironic contrast for on one hand Paul has just referred to
the riches of God's kindness, forbearance and patience [see note Romans 2:4]
on which the Jew is in fact presuming, and, on the other hand, with the
Jewish conception of treasure stored up in the world to come as a reward
for good works - see the preceding discussion in the NIDNTT re Judaism
and "works".)

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the
first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save,
as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. (These
instructions on storing up refer to the collection for the poor of
Jerusalem)

2 Corinthians 12:14 Here for
this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to
you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not
responsible to saveup for their parents, but parents for
their children. (In context Paul is speaking of his forthcoming visit
and his determination not to be a burden to them. He regards himself as
their father, and hence is under obligation to support them and not vice
versa.)

James 5:3 Your gold and your
silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and
will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you
havestoredup your treasure! (Comment: James speaks
of judgment which awaits those who are preoccupied with temporal,
earthly treasures. The irony is that while these people thought that
they were storing up treasure, they were, in fact, storing up wrath as
described in Romans 2:5)

2 Peter 3:7 (note) But the present
heavens and earth by His word are beingreserved for fire,
kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

2 Kings 20:17 'Behold, the
days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your
fathers have laid up in store to this day shall be carried to
Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD.

Proverbs 2:7 He stores up
(Hebrew = tsaphan = hide, treasure, store up; Lxx = thesaurizo) sound
wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Amos 3:10 "But they do not
know how to do what is right," declares the LORD, "these who hoard up
(Hebrew = 'atsar = store up, save, lay up; Lxx = thesaurizo) violence
and devastation in their citadels."

Fire
(4442) (pur) as Peter uses it refers to literal combustion
of flammable materials and thus pictures
a radical purging of
the heavens and earth of sin and the ungodly. No wonder they mock their
frightening future fate as "fiction".

There
could not be a better
metaphorfor Jehovah than fire,
which is immaterial, mysterious, but visible, warming, cheering,
comforting, and finally also terrible and consuming. God for example is
described as a "consuming fire"
(Ex 24:17 Dt 4:24 see He 12:29-note,
cf He 10:27-note).

Numerous
references to fire
in the Bible emphasize God’s judgment on wickedness and unbelief.

The prophet Amos warned Israel

Seek the Lord and live, lest He
break out like a fire in the house
of Joseph and devour it (Amos 5:6)

In the NT, eternal damnation is pictured as an everlasting fire
(Rev 21:8-note).Fire from heaven is
described as an instrument of God’s wrath to crush the satanic rebellion
(Revelation 20:9-note;
Re 20:10-note).

The prophet Malachi describes the return of the Lord Jesus in terms of fire

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He
appears? For He is like a refiner's fire
and like fullers' soap
(Mal 3:2)

Although this event (His second coming) is 1000 years prior to the fiery
destruction of the universe that will occur at the end of the Messiah's
1000 year reign on earth (according
to a literal interpretation of the chronology of the events in
Rev 20-21). God put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His covenantal promise that He would
never destroy the world again by water (Ge 9:13).
Peter says that in the future, God
will destroy the heavens and the earth by fire
(cf. Da 7:9,10; Mic 1:4; Mal 4:1;Ps 97:3)

Tereo is used 4 times in 2 Peter, each time in connection with
the judgment of the ungodly (2Peter 2:4, 2:9, 2:17, 3:7). But as the water of the pre-flood world was
under the control of God, so the fire of the present age is kept preserved (in
restraint) by that same word.

Day
of Judgment - When does this day occur? Comparing other
Scriptures it is clear that the present order of things (physical and
spiritual) will be forever destroyed at the end of the 1000 year reign
of Christ, which will also mark the end of the period known as the Day
of the Lord
which will be more fully discussed in the notes below on (2Pe 3:10
[note]).
Judgment
(see krisis below) as in most
of the Scriptural uses refers to a distinction
made between good and evil, right and wrong. Peter is referring to a
"day"
when the world will be destroyed (and separated) by a "judgment of
fire".

Judgment (2920)
(krisis)
refers to a distinction, a separation or a discrimination. This root is
seen in many English words, including "crisis" (a decisive
time when judgment must be made) and "critical" (a
decisive point at which judgment is seen). In early Greek krisis
was related to the supposed activities of the gods, who were guardians
of rights and customs. They judged those actions which conflicted with
their rights or customs. If people violated these basic rules of life,
it was believed that the gods would punish (or judge) either the
violators or their children. When the word was taken up in the
Septuagint Greek OT it took on a Hebrew flavor. In the OT it was Jehovah
God Who judged between right and wrong using His holy law handed down at
Sinai as the standard for judgment. The NT uses the noun and verb forms
referring to judgment about 150 times.

From the
table below summarizing the major end time judgments it is clear
(maybe it's not that
clear to you initially but study the Scriptures and it will become quite
clear) that the present heavens and
earth will "flee
away", John writing...

And I saw a great white throne and
Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and
no place was found for them. (see note Revelation 20:11)

Note that this chart is based upon a
literal
interpretation of the
Scriptures, including acceptance of a future 7 year period corresponding
to the "70th Week of Daniel" ( Da 9:24, 25, 26, 27see notes
Da 9:24252627),
commonly referred to as the "Tribulation". Note that
Scripture never specifically designates this 7 year time period as the "tribulation".
Jesus however did indicate that the last three and one-half years of
this 7 year period would be a time of
Great Tribulation
(Mt 24:21). Note that this last 3.5 years also corresponds to the OT
reference by Jeremiah to the "Time of Jacob's Trouble" (Jer 30:7, cf Da
12:1-2).

The Day of
Judgment is both
comforting and discomforting. It comforts those who know that God will
make all wrongs right. On the other hand the Day of Judgmentshould be terribly discomforting to those who engage in wanton sins such
as Peter described in Chapter 2 and surely they must know that one day
they will pay for their dastardly deeds.

The
famous preacher Robert G. Lee once delivered what has come to be one of
the most famous sermons of the 20th Century entitled
Payday
Someday and in each of literally thousands of times he
preached this truth around the world, many turned to Christ.

If you
are reading these notes and you do not know Christ as your personal
Savior and Lord, I would encourage you to read (or listen to) Dr. Lee's
sermon at the above link and then if you're still unconvinced to follow
that "appetizer" with Jonathan Edward's "entree" at the following link.
God used Jonathan Edward's to ignite revival in his church and
throughout New England with the famous sermon entitled
Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God.

Peter
would have this solemn sure (by His Word) truth about judgment cause all
saints to discipline themselves to live godly and holy lives until the
Lord shall come again. My brother, my sister, how are you doing?

"The Bema" Seat
- Only Believers appear here to be recompensed for their deeds in
the body whether good or bad

Scripture is not absolutely specific regarding the timing of this event so dogmatism is best avoided.
With that caveat, it appears that this event probably occurs
during the 7 year period preceding the millennial reign of Christ
during the time period best known by the popular term "The
Tribulation" (actually a misnomer as discussed above)

At the end of the 7
year period described above Christ returns as Conquering King (Rev
17:14, 19:11ff) and apparently at the inception of the
establishment of His Millennial kingdom.

Mt 25:31-46, 41

JUDGMENT & RESTORATION
of ISRAEL

"All" Israel will be saved
(Ro 11:26ff) which refers to "all" of the 1/3 who believe (Zec
13:8, 9) the "new" covenant (Jer 31:31)

The judgment appears
to coincide with the end of the last three & one-half year period
of Daniel's 70th week (Da 9:27), the time Jesus called "The Great
Tribulation" (Mt 24:21) & Jeremiah referred to as "time of Jacob's
distress" (Jer 30:7)

Ezek 20:33-41
Ro 11:26ff
Zech 13:8, 9
Jer 31:31, 32, 33

GREAT
WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT

The
"final" judgment when all unbelievers (spiritually dead) will
stand before the throne & be judged according to their deeds (Rev
20:12).
All whose names are not found written in the book of life will be
thrown into the lake of fire = the second death (Re 20:14, 15)

Revelation 19,
20 &
21 when interpreted
literally lay out a very logical chronology: The return of Christ
defeating the antichrist (Rev 19:11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21),
Satan bound 1000 years (Rev 20:1, 2, 3), Christ & His saints reign
on earth during the 1000 years Satan is bound (Rev 20:4, 5, 6),
Satan leads & is defeated at the last rebellion at the end of the
Millennial reign (Rev 20:7, 8, 9, 10). "Earth & heaven fled away &
no place was found for them (Rev 20:11) corresponds to Peter's
description of the "present heavens & earth" being destroyed with
fire & is followed by the appearance of the New Heaven and Earth
(Rev 21:1) which implies the old order was removed between Re
20:10 and Re 21:1 - Peter fills in the details in 2Peter 3
explaining how the first heaven & earth "passed away"

Note that this chart is an overview and is not an exhaustive
compilation of relevant Scriptures

Destruction
(684)(apoleia
[word study]with 4/18 NT uses in 2 Peter derived from
apo = marker of
separation, away from + olethros = ruin, death but not
annihilation) refers to the state in this case of the ungodly in which
their life is "ruined" and is no longer usable for its original intended
purpose. The
ungodly are not annihilated and there
is no reprieve once the righteous Judge renders His perfect judgment. If
this tragic truth does not stir you deep within your innermost being to
share the good news with those around you, then perhaps you really don't
believe that it is literally true. The ungodly will experience the
judgment of God as a day of destruction, not an extinction of existence
or annihilation but an everlasting state of torment and death (physical
and spiritual). They will be delivered up to eternal misery, and suffer
the loss of everything that makes human existence worthwhile!

In Dante's
"Inferno" he affixed the following inscription over the gates of
hell:

All hope abandon, ye who enter here" a fitting
summarization of the meaning of "destruction.

Ben Franklin
who probably was not a believer still had some fear of the Lord
writing...

Even in this age of inflation, the wages of sin remain the same.

Ungodly
(765)
(asebes from "a" = without or devoid of +
sébomai = to worship or to venerate which speaks of an attitude of
reverential respect and of honoring and admiring another profoundly and
respectfully) (See study of related word
asebeia) describes those who violate the "norm"
expected of one in a proper relation to God. They are destitute of
reverential awe towards God. Webster defines "ungodly"
as "denying or disobeying God".

Asebes
describes the person without reverence for God, not by merely being
irreligious, but by acting in contravention of God’s demands. Clearly "ungodly"
is an apt description of all who are unsaved.

The ungodly
man or woman is the one who has little or no time for God in their life.
They have deceived themselves into believing that they can rule God out
of their affairs and their thinking even though God is the greatest
Being in the universe, the One Who makes sense out of life, the One
around Whom all of life revolves and without Whom no creature could even
take a breath. To eliminate such a Glorious Being from one's thinking is
what it means to be ungodly.

Ungodly
means want or lack of reverence or piety toward God (which speaks of
one's heart attitude) and thus living without regard for God and in a
way that denies His existence and right as Supreme Ruler and Authority
(which speaks of one's actions emanating from one's attitude). Asebes
suggests a disregard of the existence of God, a refusal to retain Him in
knowledge and a habit of mind leads to open rebellion. It is a general
reference to all that is anti-God.

Jude writes that
the ungodly will infiltrate the true church of God, for even in
his day

"certain persons have crept in
unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into
licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude
1:4)

Ungodly is
one of Jude’s favorite words. While these men claimed to belong to God,
they were, in fact, ungodly in their thinking and their living. They
might have “a form of godliness,” but they lacked the force of godliness
that directs one's thinking and actions "Godward". It is a basic
principle, that doctrinal deviation often accompanies and often
justifies ethical and moral sin. Their lack of reverence for God was
demonstrated by the fact that they infiltrated the church of God to
corrupt it and gain riches from its people.

The Bible declares
that there is hope even for the ungodly

for while we were still helpless, at
the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (see Ro 5:6-note) and for the one who
"believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
reckoned as righteousness" (Romans 4:5-note)

John MacArthur writes that the
lifestyle of the ungodly

is inevitably empty, vain, and void
of substance. The life of an unbeliever is bound up in thinking and
acting in an arena of ultimate trivia. He consumes himself in the
pursuit of goals that are purely selfish, in the accumulation of that
which is temporary, and in looking for satisfaction in that which is
intrinsically deceptive and disappointing. The unregenerate person plans
and resolves everything on the basis of his own thinking. He becomes his
own ultimate authority and he follows his own thinking to its ultimate
outcome of futility, aimlessness, and meaninglessness—to the
self–centered emptiness that characterizes our age...The second
characteristic of ungodly persons is ignorance of God’s truth.
Their thinking not only is futile but spiritually uninformed...Fallen
mankind has a built–in inability to know and comprehend the things of
God—the only things that ultimately are worth knowing...the ungodly
are unresponsive to truth (﻿cf.﻿ Isa 44:18, 19, 20 1Th 4:5-note﻿).
Just as a corpse cannot hear a conversation in the mortuary, the person
who is spiritually “﻿dead in [his] trespasses and sins﻿” (﻿Ephesians
2:1-note﻿)
cannot hear or understand the things of God, no matter how loudly or
clearly they may be declared or evidenced in his presence...The
knowledge that the ungodly person hates is not practical, factual
knowledge. On the contrary, he prides himself in how much he knows. (MacArthur,
J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody PressorLogos)

The attitude of the ungodly
man or woman "is nowhere more clearly exposed than in the popular
admonition to do one’s own thing. Man’s “﻿own thing﻿” is sin, which
characterizes his whole natural being. Self-will is the essence of all
sin. Although Satan was responsible for their being tempted to sin, it
was the voluntary placing of their own will-s above God’s that caused
Adam and Eve to commit the first sin." (MacArthur,
J: Romans 1-8. Moody)

Greek:
Endetoutomelanthaneto (3SPAM) humasagapetoi,hotimiahemeraparakurioschiliaetekaichiliaeteoshemeramia.Amplified:
Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with
the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one
day. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay:
Beloved, you must not shut your eyes to this one fact that with the
Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. (Westminster
Press)KJV: But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.NET:
Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that
a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand
years are like a single day. (NET
Bible)NLT:
But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand
years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. (NLT
- Tyndale House)Phillips: But you
should never lose sight of this fact, dear friends, that time is not
the same with the Lord as it is with us - to him a day may be a
thousand years, and a thousand years only a day. (Phillips:
Touchstone)Wuest:
But this one thing, stop allowing it to be hidden from you, divinely
loved ones, that one day in the sight of the Lord is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. (Eerdmans) Young'sLiteral: And this one
thing let not be unobserved by you, beloved, that one day with the
Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;

Wilmington's
Bible Handbook has an interesting title for 2 Peter 3:8-13

"From mercy to
meltdown to Millennium."

Beloved (2Pe 1:17, 3:1, 8, 14, 15, 17) - He again addresses his readers as "loved ones" or as
some versions render it "dear friends".

Beloved (27)
(agapetos from agapao= to love,
agape=
unconditional love borne by Spirit - Gal 5:22-) means beloved, dear,
very much loved. Agapetos is love called out of one’s
heart by preciousness of the object loved. Agapetos is used only of
Christians as united with God or with each other in love.

But
(de) suggest that Peter will now offer a
contrast...something different from what has preceded needs to be said.
Having dealt with the bogus argument of the mockers, Peter now offers
instruction regarding the Lord's return, for with the passing of the
years some of his readers may have become discouraged and had their
hopes of His return dimmed. Peter now gives his readers needed truth
regarding the delay in the expected return, beginning with the true
explanation concerning the apparent delay. He again addresses them with
the affectionate "beloved"
(not "friends" like translated by the NIV).

The word order of the
Greek emphasizes "this
one fact"
reading literally

"this one thing, let it not keep escaping your
notice".

Peter wants to make sure they do not overlook the
critically important truth that follows as did Jesus in His instruction
to Martha that...

only a few things are necessary,
really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be
taken away from her. (Lk 10:42, cp Lk 10:38, 39, 40, 41).

Peter wants his
readers (who will surely be faced with taunts from the scoffers) to
remember that God is in control and He is always on time. Scoffers would
attempt to make us believe that God has fallen asleep or He is inept or
He does not keep His promises. To pay attention to such lies would
hardly undergird our faith, and so Peter calls for focused attention.

Escape...notice
(lanthano = to be hidden from)
is the same verb Peter used in (2Pe 3:5-note see there) but here gives his readers a negative
command. Believers are not to forget the truth that surround the Second
Coming of Christ. As Richison aptly puts it...

When we forget about who God is we
cannot apply who God is to our lives.

Peter once again is appealing to their memories as picked up by the NLT
version

"But you must
not forget, dear friends".

The present imperative
is a command
to continually do this and with the negative particle (not = Greek word
me) he is
forbidding the continuance of an action or state that was already going
on among the saints (i.e., some were already forgetting the truth he
will now remind them of).

"Stop letting this one fact escape or be hidden
from your notice."

"Stop allowing this truth to be
hidden from you"

The scoffers were willfully ignorant (culpable ignorance - see note
2 Peter 3:5)
but believers are not to forget.

His readers needed to understand why God had delayed for what seemed
like a long time. Otherwise their confidence in God's Word and His
promises might be shaken and they might fall from their steadfastness,
especially as they listened to the persuasive pseudo scientific
arguments. The scoffers may have been "getting to" some of the saints,
pressuring the questions with questions like:

Then why the delay? The promise of Christ’s coming
and the judgment of the world has been around for centuries, and it is
yet to be fulfilled. Has God changed His mind?

That's why Peter says
stop being ignorant of the truth he now reminds them of -- that truth is
that God's
timetable is not the equivalent of man's. God does not view time as we
do. Christians must be careful lest the propaganda
of the scoffers distort their thinking.

The scoffers forget (see note
2 Peter 3:5)
and argue that
the Second Coming has not occurred after so many years of delay and
therefore will not occur. The beloved of God
should recall the principle Peter reminds them of in Ps 90:4.

Man sees time against time, but God sees time against eternity. God is
above time, for His "time line" has no beginning or end, compared to
man's which now lasts some 70 years plus or minus. God is not bound by
or limited by time as is man. Time is determined by the relation of the
sun to the earth, and God is not limited by this relationship. "In
the beginning..." in Genesis 1:1 is the first tick of the clock of
time which has been ticking ever since.

Wiersbe adds

Not only were they
(the mockers) ignorant of what God had done in the past (2Pe 3:5-note), but they were also ignorant of what God was like (Isa
46:9). They were making God in their own image (Ro 1:23-note) and ignoring the fact that God is eternal (Dt
33:27).
This means that He has neither beginning nor ending. Man is immortal: he
has a beginning but not an ending. He will live forever either in heaven
or hell. But God is eternal, without beginning or ending (Rev 21:6-note,
Re 22:13-note), and He dwells in eternity. Eternity is not just “extended time.”
Rather, it is existence above and apart from time...Since
a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of
delayed fulfillment of His promises. In God’s sight, the whole universe
is only a few days old!" (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. VictororLogos)

Richison has some
excellent thoughts on why believers forget important truth...

How can people learn truth and
proceed to quickly forget what they learned? There are a number of
reasons for this. Some people never truly learned the principle in the
first place. They are ignorant of the principle. In this case,
application is not the issue, but they have not formed clear enough
principles to apply truth to their experience.

In another situation people know the
principles of God’s Word but they operate on false criteria such as
emotion as their primary operating principle. We all have emotions but
the point here is that we can use our emotions falsely. Emotions should
be the result of principle rather than the cause of principle. If we
live out principle, pertinent emotions should follow. Emotions get out
of whack when we live inherently in emotions without principle.

Some people use emotion as the
criterion of their soul. Eventually they base their whole evaluation of
the Christian life on how they feel. This leads to psychological
hedonism and keeps people from applying God’s truth to experience. Some
people try to solve their problems by tantrums. They blow their cork and
exhibit childish behavior. This is living by manipulation. Emotions rule
in this situation. When this happens, we become slaves to emotions. This
destroys the Christian life. We cannot absorb and apply God’s truth in
this environment.

If we stay out of fellowship long
enough, this will also destroy our capacity to apply God’s truth to
experience. We eventually lose conscious awareness of God’s principles
because we do not think that those principles work anymore. The longer
we stay in this situation, the more deprived we get. This is one problem
of “forgetting” in this verse.

Another problem that comes from
“forgetting” is displaced orientation. When we fail to categorize God’s
Word into proper principles for living, we live fragmented lives. We all
need standards of conduct. Much Bible preaching today strictly revolves
around inspiration and not teaching. No wonder people cannot apply truth
to experience—they only see one issue at a time! They respond to one
inspiration after another and not to the whole counsel of God. They fail
to categorize God’s principles in order to structure their entire life
around God’s philosophy of life.

Failure to orient to God’s Word as
integral principles for living is like throwing all our clothes into one
big pile. When we want to wear a certain combination, we must dig
through the pile until we find things that match. By the time we do this
spiritually, we may end in spiritual disaster. This is a problem of
categorization of God’s Word for our lives. If we hang God’s principles
into categories, we can sort out what we need at the time we need it. We
no longer have to say, “I wonder where that principle can be found in
the Bible for my life.”

Many people do not apply truth to
their lives because other things distract them from the principles of
the Word. Learning and applying principles to experience requires
discipline. It does not come with casual Christianity. If we put
learning God’s Word on the outer edge of the periphery of our lives, we
will not live out the Bible in our lives. (Verse
by Verse)

Not so in haste my heart!
Have faith in God, and wait;
Although He linger long,
He never comes too late.

He never cometh late;
He knoweth what is best;
Vex not thyself in vain;
Until He cometh, rest.

Until He cometh, rest,
Nor grudge the hours that roll;
The feet that wait for God
Are soonest at the goal.

Are soonest at the goal
That is not gained with speed;
Then hold thee still, my heart,
For I shall wait His lead.Play

THAT WITH THE LORD
ONE DAY IS AS A THOUSAND YEARS AND A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY: hoti
mia hemera para kurio hos chilia ete kai chilia ete hos hemera mia:

Bengel said...

As to a very rich man a thousand
sovereigns are as one penny; so, to the eternal God, a thousand years
are as one day.

Adam
Clarke wrote...

All time is as nothing before him,
because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity;
therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before him; no lapse of ages
impairs his purposes, nor need he wait to find convenience to execute
those purposes. And when the longest period of time has passed by, it is
but as a moment or indivisible point in comparison of eternity. This
thought is well expressed by PLUTARCH, Consol. ad Apoll.: "If we compare
the time of life with eternity, we shall find no difference between long
and short.

Peter
apparently is quoting from the Psalmist who records...

For a thousand years in Thy sight are
like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night. (Psalm
90:4)
(Spurgeon's
note)

Keep in
mind that the context of this verse in Psalm 90 is a reference to man's
life, which in the pre-flood era lasted almost 1000 years (Methuselah
lived to age 969 years).

Some
commentators suggest that Peter's (and the psalmist's)
statement argues against pre-millennialism and a literal 1000 year reign of
Christ (see Millennium 1; Millennium 2; Millennium 3). They
argue that 1000 years is not to be taken literally,
reasoning that here in Peter it is merely a
comparative time reference. The 1,000 years in Revelation 20:1-6
is repeated (Six times in six verses!) and is not in the grammatical
construction of a simile as
it is in Peter's usage (remember that a simileis a figure
of speech that expresses the resemblance of one thing to another of a
different category, usually introduced by as or like - cf Peter's statement -- "as
a thousand years...as one day..."). Those who use Peter's use
of thousand to refute John's literal use of thousand is in essence
"putting words" in Peter's mouth to use a modern saying! We need
to be intellectually honest, and see what Peter did not say. In
short, Peterdid not say...

one day IS
a 1000 years and a 1000 years ARE
one day.

In
contrast the
apostle John did say "THE
1000 years" (Re 20:1; 20:2; 20:3; 20:4; 20:5 20:6-see notes Re 20:1;
20:2; 20:3; 20:4; 20:520:6).
In the original Greek text, the specific article "the" is present
("ta chilia" where ta = "the" and "chilia" =
thousand). Thus this verse in Revelation is most naturally, normally and
literally read as signifying
THE
("the" very specific) 1000 year period irregardless of what
amillennial "scholars" maintain! As an aside, many who do not accept a
literal millennium argue that this is the only place in Scripture where
such a time period is mentioned and if it is so important why would God
mention it only in one section? They are correct that this section of
Revelation 20 is the only place the specific length of time of the
Messianic Kingdom is mentioned, it is hardly the only Scripture that
refers to this period, for there are scores of Old Testament passage
that describe the character (as opposed to the length of time) of this
glorious period of human history. See Millennium Part 3for a description of
the Messianic Kingdom, and see if this blessed hope does not encourage
you to press on in your faith, laying aside the old and putting on the
new character of Christ in your day by day walk. Prophecy is given to
encourage our sinking, failing hearts (which looking around the events
and morals, etc of this world will do to our outlook), and to build us
up and equip us to run the race with endurance. Prophecy was not given
primarily to satisfy your curiosity about the future which is too often
the primary effect study of the study of eschatology.

Peter
uses thousand to picture any long period of time as contrasted to
a very short period and therefore does not convey a precise mathematical
significance. God is not limited to our time schedules to fulfill His
purposes. Peter is not saying that the Lord is timeless (which of course
He is) but that His relation to time must never be confused with our
relation to time. For example, a 24 hour day seems relatively short to
us (depending on what kind of "day" you are having!) while a thousand
years is a very long time. With the Lord a 24 hour day is no different
than 1000 years and vice versa. Whether it is a day or a thousand years
as we count time, both are really the same with the Lord. Neither
hampers nor helps Him.

Even the
Reformation Study Bible agrees that this passage is often
misinterpreted and misapplied...

Though this passage—and Ps. 90:4 upon
which it is based—is sometimes implausibly cited in support of the
theory that when a “day” is mentioned in biblical prophecy a literal
thousand years is meant, Peter’s point is to assert that God is
sovereign over time and that His perspective on time differs radically
from ours.

Richison comments that believers...

need to focus on the principle of
God’s essence. His essence does not operate on human timetables. He
operates on His own timetable. We need to be patient in our
understanding of how God operates. We should understand that God will
fulfill His promises in His own good time. (Verse
by Verse)

A B
Simpson writes that...

The apostle lays down a great
principle with regard to our calculations of dates and chronologies.
"Beloved," he says, "be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2Pe 3:8) That is, we cannot fix the date of the Lord's coming by our
chronometers or chronologies. It is fixed rather by spiritual
conditions. One of our days may hasten it a thousand years, and one of
our decades may mean little or nothing to bring it near. (A. B. Simpson.
Christ in the Bible -- 1 & 2 Peter)

Quoted by some as an argument from universalism, (but) this verse in
fact teaches the opposite. It shows that after the second coming,
ushering in God’s judgment, there will be no further opportunity for
repentance.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rising Sun.

The fundamental
thought
is that God is sovereign over time and that His perspective on time
differs radically from ours. Men have a limited perspective and cannot
understand God’s time-table (cf Habakkuk 2:3).
Men view history in terms of days and years, but to God, time is always
"present tense". Several decades seemed to the early
Christians a very
long time to wait for the return of Jesus. Peter implies that this is a
very short time from God’s perspective. God is never in a hurry, because
He is never
late. He has not missed an appointment yet! Since time is purely relative with God, He waits patiently while
human beings stew with impatience. While God works in time,
He is not limited by time. When Jesus presented Himself as the
sacrificial Lamb on the Cross on a single day in time, this one day had
impact on all eternity, past, present and future!

John Calvin has some wise advice observing that Peter...

now turns to speak to the godly; and he reminds them that when the
coming of Christ is the subject, they were to raise upwards their eyes,
for by so doing, they would not limit, by their unreasonable wishes, the
time appointed by the Lord. For waiting seems very long on this account,
because we have our eyes fixed on the shortness of the present life, and
we also increase weariness by computing days, hours, and minutes. But
when the eternity of God’s kingdom comes to our minds, many ages vanish
away like so many moments.

Jesus is coming to earth again; what
if it were today?
Coming in power and love to reign; what if it were today?
Coming to claim His chosen Bride, all the redeemed and purified,
Over this whole earth scattered wide; what if it were today?

Faithful and true would He find us
here if He should come today?
Watching in gladness and not in fear, if He should come today?
Signs of His coming multiply; morning light breaks in eastern sky.
Watch, for the time is drawing nigh; what if it were today?PLAY TUNE

><>><>><>

2 Peter 3:8﻿One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.
F B Meyer - Our Daily Homily

There is no
succession of time with God: no past, no future; He dwells in the
eternal present, as I AM. As we may look down from a lofty mountain on a
stream in the valley beneath, tracing it from its source to its fall
into the ocean, and feeling that each part of it is equally distant from
the spot where we stand, so must time appear to the Eternal; who was,
and is, and is to come.

One day is as a
thousand years. — He could do in a single day, if He chose, what He
has at other times taken a thousand years to accomplish. Do not say that
He will require so long to do this or that — to restore or convert the
Jews; to introduce the millennial age; to undo the effects of the Curse,
and fill the years with blessing. Do not say that He must have as long
to make the second heavens and earth as the first. Do not say that the
overthrow of the empire of darkness, and the conversion of multitudes to
God, can only be achieved by the processes which are now in vogue. All
this could be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and
between sunrise and sunset God could effect the work of a thousand
ordinary years.

A thousand
years as one day. — Periods that seem so long to our finite minds
are not so to God. A thousand years in our reckoning is but a day in
his. You say it is nearly two thousand years ago since Jesus died, or at
least that we are in the evening of the second thousand. But in God’s
reckoning, the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection, took place in the
morning of yesterday. Take wider views of God’s horizon; believe in his
mighty march throughout the centuries; He takes up the isles as a very
little thing, and the centuries are the beats of the minute-hand.
(Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)

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